The Californian's Tale Summary - Essay Example

According to the guy’s account, the place is well decorated by the host’s wife. The house’s owner is very cheerful and talkative and talks highly about his wife and how she decorated the home. He informs the visitor that she has gone on a short holiday. The house owner is very eager to introduce his wife to the visitor, and he tells him to stay in the house until the upcoming weekend when the wife will return from the short vacation.

Since the visitor is eager as well, he chooses to settle for the days mentioned to meet the guy’s wife. And when Saturday arrives, the whole town creates a big welcome party for the wife who is coming back from holiday. They get together and prepare everything for her arrival. However, the guest is unaware of the mental instability of the house owner. You see, his wife has been dead for nineteen years, and she is not on vacation.

Because of his mental problem, the man, every year, believes that his wife is coming back from vacation, and the entire town goes with the story.

• They support the man by not alerting him of his mental issues and not telling him that his wife is dead
• They are doing this out of pity as he can hardly cope with the death of his wife.